First Coalition War
Background Prior to the outbreak of war, the server was divided into a range of factions ranging in strength. The "Major Powers" on the server being the Order of Dalmaitus, the Men of the North, the Dwarven Empire, and The Brotherhood. In addition to these major states, numerous middle-ranking powers existed, such as the Palamaine Republic, Ascalon, Prussia, the Privateers and Etat De l'Or. Tensions had been rising between the once-allied states of the Northmen and the Order, as the North's aggressive ways had begun to infringe upon groups friendly to the Order. The Dwarven Empire, defeated in a previous war by a combined Northman-Order army, had rebuilt their strength and sought to re-restablish themselves on the world stage. Previous diplomatic agreements had been made with the Order. The Brotherhood remained isolationist in nature. Lead Up to War: Opening raids and skirmishes On the 29th of April, 2012, conflict between the nations of Etat de l'Or and Ascalon began when Etat raided the nation of Scotland, prompting Ascalon to retaliate by raiding the Etat de l'Or base, killing Etat forces present and looting the base. Shortly afterwards, a Northman-Palamaine taskforce struck the Ascalon base in a retaliatory strike on behalf of Etat de l'Or. Despite Ascalon's troops mobilising and engaging the Northmen in battle, the superior equipment and organisation of the Northmen forces proved to be too much: Ascalon's army was wiped out, with no Allied losses. The War Declaration of War on the North The Order, watching from the sidelines, decided to take action upon seeing the Northman intervention in the skirmish war. War was officially declared upon the North by the Order. Both sides began mobilisation and the best equipment from the national armouries was passed around. The North was joined by the allied state of Palamaine, as well as Etat de l'Or and IceBandits. The Order was joined by Ascalon. Seeing the North finally facing a foe it could not crush in short order, other states mobilised their own forces: both the Privateers and the Dwarves declared war on the North and joined the Order and Ascalon, forming "The Coalition". Diplomatic efforts to draw the Brotherhood into the war proved unsuccessful when the Brotherhood voted unanimously to remain neutral. The First Day The Coalition armies gathered near the South Portal, preparing to launch the war with an offensive on the Northman capital. Advance elements of the army, already operating at the Northman capital, were destroyed by the Northman home forces. The main body of the Coalition army arrived shortly after, assaulting the defences of the North, a trap was set up when half the coallition forces were forced to stay outside due to the portcullis being closed, but after regaining the advantage the Northman capital was captured. The Northmen made use of their portal to the Safe Zone to fight a harrassment war, resulting in the death of two Dwarven soldiers. No Northmen died. Additional casualties were incurred on the Coalition side when a Privateer war party was mistaken for enemy forces by the Order, resulting in the death of 1 Privateer before the confusion was cleared. The final battle of the evening took place outside of the North's base where elements of the North struck down an Ascalonian Patrol, soon 4 Dwarves were there to avenge their ally, and after a fierce melee the Northmen were forced to retreat. Shortly after this battle, elements of the Coalition army composed of the elite commandoes of both Ascalon and the Order followed by the Scotland tribesmen also struck Etat's base killing all the members inside it and an Icebandit that had rushed to help his allies, this battle resulted in the capture of Etat's main armoury and severely denting their ability to wage war. In a daring late night raid ChocoboKnight king of Ascalon and Nerva1993 Master of the Order attacked Palamaine looking for loot and to reduce the enemy's forces by killing Palamaine's members when they less suspected, after scouting for almost an hour the commando found some of Palamaine's storage rooms but were unable to find the enemy. The Second Day A Coalition commando known only as "Benz, Reaper of the North", killed 2 Northman soldiers solo in a daring attack. Later that day the Coallition troops from the Order, the Dwarves and Ascalon took the Northmen's base and tried to sabotage it to prevet it's members from assaulting the Coallition troops from the security of the safezone, in the meantime a big Northman warband occupied the Order's base. Tired of inaction some Coallition members departed the occupied base and the Northmen logged off, after this Gendarme Hilary_Duff accidently pressed a mechanical device that blew up the Norths' Portal, costing the life of Order's master Skivvies. The damage was considered excesive so some members of the Coallition were jailed and the damage restored by Mangerman. Later that day Ascalon was attacked again leading to a promt response from they allied troops, the core of the dwarven imperial army guided by Order's Master Nerva quickly arrived to the assailed base where Ascalonian citizen Ingloriousthomas received us with open arms, however the northmen's raiding commandos had already dissapeared from the area. After being forced to allow safe exit of two Dwarven soldiers, due to their taking of a hostage, Palamaine deliberated and ultimately decided to defect to the Coalition, leaving the Northmen entirely unsupported. The Third Day The Palamaine republic officially surrendered this day and joined the Coalition. Early this day dwarven and privateer troops had rallied to Order base to defend it from a possible attack, however it was a trick because Northmen's troops were in Solgundir, where they slew Ascalonian noble Fortes as he was patroling his allies city, the Dwarven army returned inmediatly but the aggressors had already left. A few hours later a Coalition army leaded by Order Master Nerva sought to find the northman Crossjon and slay him however they arrived to discover Odenstad deserted. After this failed offensive and having Order's best fighters jailed, a huge coallition army, composed of Ascalon's royal army, Scotland's warbands and Order members Nerva and Connor93, went on to attack Etat de l'or, finding emperor Celoxia waiting for them at the portal the troops were confused by the emperor's arrasments and he finally called for a 1v1 duel against Scotland's king HurryinGun, the other expectated but when the emperor was about to deliver the last hit Ascalonian troops interfered and fastly cut down the emperor. This expedition also found an abandoned Icebandit base that was completely sacked. After Order Granmaster Benz's liberation from his punishment he leaded his people to Etat de l'or again where peace was offered to emperor Celoxia, after his refusal Order and Ascalonian troops looted what little was left in the city, but they didn't count on the emperor's dark magic abilities; first Benz fell to the breaking damage and later Chocoboknight and Nerva were lured into a ladder were the emperor traped them, after a prolonged ladder duel however Celoxia ran away but was shot down by Nerva minutes later. As a final action of the day an Order commando composed by Nerva and Benz attacked Odenstad and while being separated Nerva was shot from the heights by Crossjon, but was quickly avenged by Benz's lethal blade. With his pride hurt Northman Crossjon challenged Benz to an equal fight in the arena where they bet diamonds and a valuable bow going to the winner, in Hilary's words: "I later observed Mighty Benz as he slew a Northie in the arena. Traitor Crossjon was quite inept and Mighty Benz showed himself worthy of Cthulhu." The Fourth Day The day's operation started with the Ascalonian royal army being leaded by Dwarf commander Hilary_Duff attacking Odenstad, a heavy volley of arrows fell from the fortifications where the northmen were, the Coallition army managed to cover themselves and returning the fire, however the northmen's bows were more powerful and soon the coallition army was receiving cassualties, when the armies finally clashed the Coallition troops were outequipped but still doubled the enemy's numbers, a fierce melee ensued in which all Ascalonians were slaughtered but Dwarven gendarme Hilary managed to escape along with most of his allies equipment, the coallition had been defeated but the war was just about to get on their side. Later that day an elite Coallition army composed by 3 Order knights, the king of Ascalon and Dwarven gendarme Hilary_duff entered northern land looking for the enemy, the forces eventually met and that led to: The Battle of the Giant Chicken The war ended in the aftermath of the Battle of the Giant Chicken, which saw 5 Coalition soldiers engage a Northman force of 6 troops near the statue of the Giant Chicken outside the Northman base. The Coalition soldiers held their discipline well and were able to engage the Northmen in a delaying battle while focusing on cutting down individual enemy soldiers. Rumors say that Benz's magnificent blade decimated the northmen wreaking havoc in their lines. Soon multiple Northmen had fallen and the rest were mopped up, with only 1 escaping. The North, having lost a great deal of their best equipment to the Coalition, saw that their situation was grim, and terms were sought. War's End: Surrender of the North The North surrendered following the Battle of the Giant Chicken, paying the Coalition 69 Diamonds and around 300 Iron. A Dwarven statue was erected on Northern lands, a lasting monument to the decisive victory and veangance upon the North. The war lasted a total of four days. Post-treaty Conflicts After a dwarven lord was slain by the northmen in a series of dubious events the Dwarves declared war once more, however their allies didn't agree with further conflict and the situation was arranged diplomaticaly between both parts. The aggression returned later though against different factions from the ones that fought in this war, that provoked the Second Coalition War